Area residents urged to turn in leftover pills

People break into houses for them, or steal them from family members. Pharmacies lock them up behind the counter.

Prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet are abused at staggering levels, experts say, and drug dealers traffic in them by the millions.

Today, federal and local law enforcement officials hope to take a lot of those pills off the street.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration is launching a one-day initiative where people can turn in leftover medications, no questions asked. Normally, carrying loose medications without the proper prescription can be a crime.

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Law enforcement and drug prevention agencies say the expired or unused controlled substances and medications are a potential source for illegal use, making them a risk to public health and safety.

The DEA said 4,000 places across the state and country will set up drop-off centers.

"National Take-Back Day" is being backed by area police departments, community partners and the Governor's Prevention Partnership.

Prescription and over-the-counter tablets and capsules will be accepted, but intravenous solutions, injectables or needles will not. Illegal substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of the initiative.

Prescription drug use among state youths has been growing in recent years and one way to block it is to dispose of the prescriptions in organized ways such as the take-back day, officials said.

Meanwhile, state police said they intercepted an international dealer of OxyContin Thursday and seized 1,398 tablets, in 40-milligram form. The OxyContin was worth $55,920 on the street.

Undercover narcotics detectives from the Statewide Narcotics Task Force, working with detectives in Waterford, found out about a person who would be traveling to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to meet a courier and return to Connecticut with a large amount of OxyContin, state police said.

Ashley Gibson, 25, of Waterford, traveled to JFK to pick up Danny Miranda, 33, of Hartford, who investigators determined had just flown in from Lima, Peru, state police said. They were nabbed at a Hartford address.

Last week in North Haven, police said they took more than 8,000 painkillers and antidepressants from an alleged dealer, including 610 OxyContin pills. The haul was worth about $50,000, police said.

A series of burglary arrests in 2008 caused the North Haven Substance Abuse Prevention Council and town officials to focus on prescription drug abuse by young people.

The North Haven Substance Abuse Prevention Council had a prescription pill dropoff day in April, when residents potentially helped to take drugs worth more than $60,000 out of the hands of young users, according to First Selectman Michael J. Freda, the council's executive director.

North Haven will have another pill return from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Elm Street entrance of North Haven High School. North Haven had already planned the event before learning about today's event by the DEA and was advised by the DEA to keep its plans, North Haven officials said.

The North Haven council also is holding classes to help parents take control of the issue of drug abuse, based on a curriculum developed by The Courage to Speak Foundation. The classes are open to anyone and will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 5, 12, 19 and 26 at North Haven Town Hall. To sign up, call Jay McGuinness at 203-985-4845 or e-mail jmcguinness@united-mortgage.com.

Foundation CEO Ginger Katz believes that the only way to bring awareness to the problem is to speak up, and so she created a foundation to educate students and parents.

"More than 70 percent of people who misuse prescription painkillers say they get them from family or friends, often in the home or right out of the medicine cabinet. Parents must take precautions to ensure that medications are secured and not accessible to family members and friends and properly disposed of when no longer needed," Katz said.

"In some ways prescription drug abuse has been the secret danger facing our children," said Jill K. Spineti, president and CEO of the Governor's Prevention Partnership.

"These drugs are in our medicine cabinets and because a doctor initially prescribed them, there is the perception that they are not as dangerous as 'street' drugs. That is simply not true and misuse and abuse of prescription drugs is not only as dangerous as taking illicit drugs, it can also lead a child to seek out 'street' drugs when the prescription ones are no longer available," she said.

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription drugs, including opioids and antidepressants, are responsible for more overdose deaths than "street drugs" such as cocaine, heroin and amphetamines. Those who take OxyContin can develop an expensive habit, and often switch to heroin, which is cheaper.

Prescription drugs have replaced marijuana as the first drug young people are likely to experiment with, experts say, with most kids who admit using them reporting they get the drugs from a friend or relative for free, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The state Department of Public Health reports 1,822 drug-induced deaths statewide from 2002 to 2006.

According to the just-released National Survey on Drug Use and Health from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the nonmedical use of prescription drugs among people ages 18-25 has climbed from 5.5 percent to 6.3 percent from 2002 to 2009.

"We do not leave loaded guns in our medicine cabinets, and we should not leave unused pain meds in our cabinets either. Let's keep our kids safe, out of harm's way, reduce the demand the drug traffickers rely on, and protect the environment all in one day," said Brian Crowell, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's New Haven District Office.

"If people have drugs in the house, it's nice they'll be able to get rid of them," said Police Chief Thomas Terribile said. "Right now, what we don't want people doing is taking drugs and flushing them down the toilet, and then they end up in the septic system and end up in the soil."